This invention relates to transferring data over a network communication system.
Computers typically require access to databases for information. Accessing a database can result in large amounts of data being transferred to the computer. The computer will often include an application program, for example, a web browser to process the transferred data by sorting and filtering the data into a more manageable and useful data subset. The data subset can then be displayed on the computer for presentation.
Computers can exchange or share information over communication networks. The networks can be in the form of “hard” connections (e.g., wires or cable) or wireless (e.g., radio frequency). Wireless networks provide flexibility to the users and reduces costs associated with installation of cable or wire. However, such advantages and costs may be offset by other considerations. For example, wireless data transfer is typically slower than cable and can require expensive transmission and reception equipment. Data bandwidth is a parameter used to characterize transfers on a communication link. For example, data bandwidth can be defined as the size of the data to be transferred in units of bits or as the transmission rate of the data transferred in units of bits per second. By quantifying and optimizing the data bandwidth for the communication link being used, cost effective communications is achievable.